Owners take pride and go to great effort and expense in providing aesthetically pleasing outdoor appearance for their residential and commercial real properties. Typically they establish well-kept lawns, shrubs, landscaping and other horticultural effects as well as tasteful ornamental design to developed structures.
It is often necessary to place utilitarian objects such as air conditioner condenser units, and trash containers on these properties. Frequently the industrial service aesthetic of such objects is inconsistent with the exterior image of the property that the owner strives to create.
A common solution to this problem is to conceal the unsightly objects from view with pleasing barriers such as plants or fencing. This solution often has shortcomings. Live plants may be expensive, require care and attention, and occasionally may not be possible to cultivate due to local environmental conditions. Fencing may also be expensive and may block service access to the shielded objects and make ongoing maintenance of nearby landscape more difficult.
Many fabricated devices that include use of artificial or simulated foliage to block from view aesthetically displeasing objects have been suggested. Among these are the following.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,587 to Beeber discloses devices for concealing and supporting refuse receptacles comprising a panel ornamented to simulate a fir tree or shrub.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,712 to Sears discloses a post terminal having a wire support frame with simulated foliage attached to the frame. The post terminal is configured to mount over an existing utility terminal enclosure to conceal the terminal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,656 to Solomon discloses a container cover with foliage to aesthetically cover a container.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,782 to Forman et al. discloses a decorative wall having a flat surface indicia or images printed thereon which hides residential equipment.
US Patent Application Publication 2006/0165931 of Gaulrapp et al. discloses a fabric cover for installation on utility boxes and having a non-projecting pattern that functions to reduce the visual impact of the utility boxes on the surrounding landscape.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D492,758 to Burbridge discloses an ornamental design for surfaces of an air conditioner/heat pump unit.
Conventional solutions to this problem also suffer from drawbacks such as being costly, flimsy, and customized for particular shapes of objects to be hidden. It is desirable to have an aesthetically pleasing way to conceal unattractive objects that is durable, requires minimal maintenance, and which is made of synthetic materials yet closely simulates the appearance of natural foliage. Furthermore, there is advantage for a device that can easily be adapted to effectively shield many differently sized and shaped objects.